Not much new there, markets have priced in those “alternatives” for more than a year. Ms. Fekter offered no specifics, but guesswork isn’t needed: Greece defaults, markets reel, creditors absorb huge losses and the euro teeters as investors shift their worried gaze to Italy. So nothing is sewn up.

“Alternatives” aren’t likely to come out of this meeting. But nor will much else. The proposal of a bigger and better EU bailout facility for impoverished euro-zone governments is out of government hands and now before national parliaments, where ratification is glacially approaching an October deadline. Austria’s own parliament this week rejected a motion to fast-track its decision on the new rescue facility, kicking the debate at in Vienna into next month.

Also likely to go unresolved at ECOFIN in Wroclaw, Poland, is the sticky problem about Finland demanding collateral for any future aid for Greece.

Ms. Fekter also set that straight Friday morning, when she left little hope for a deal. If Finland gets collateral, she said, so should all the other donors who want it.